How They Met Themselves
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [AT] They are four separate people, or so they think. Four separate, ordinary people. Until the chaos drags them in to a war where they sit in its heart. And they are one.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Yay, finally started work on an Arc-V multichip! A crazy idea I've had since seeing Yuuto, and it's been slowly building up as new Yuuya lookalikes emerge. Ruri's existence disproves this theory, but it's still fun to think about so I'm using it instead to write this.

Written for the Diversity Writing challenge at the Yugioh Arc V Challenge Forum (link's in profile), Section K prompt 17 – write a fic entirely in third person present tense. For those of you who've read my work before, you might have realised I write almost exclusively in past tense, so this is a personal challenge (and a little experimenting while I'm at it). Following chapters will be more substantial (and longer). This is a prologue so it's a little short and vague. This first chapter is also for the Advent Calender Challenge on the ZEXAL Challenge Forum (link's also in profile), Day 18 - post the first chapter for a multichap. I'm running behind in that Advent, seeing as it's January. :)

The title is after a painting by the same name by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, playing on the "omen of death" seeing one's doppelgänger is supposed to be.

Enjoy!

* * *

**How They Met Themselves  
**_Prologue_

**.**

**.**

_The pendulum swings. To and fro. They watch. Watch it approach the target. Watch it miss. Always miss._

_And watch, with every new swing, as it reaches a little less close…_

**.**

There is a boy. He looks like any other boy, but he isn't. But only ones who've been to other worlds will know that. Only those who've seen many different people and have found none of them have carbon copies scattered about across different planes except this one.

Yuuto. Yugo. Yuri. Yuuya.

And maybe there's a fifth. An original. Or from another Dimension whose existence is not yet known.

But, of course, very few people realise that there are even four.

And some people have already died without realising it.

Some died before the war even started. Before the chaos emerged. Some died before the story even began. But most died within.

Yuuto. Yugo. Yuri. Yuuya. Even they don't realise… Realise what they are. Or what they're not.

None of them are yet aware of each other. They simply live, amongst others, amongst the brewing chaos, in their own dimensions. For some of them, the war has started. For some, it will soon start. Or so they think.

The truth is that the war has started before their birth. And they are a part of it. Have always been a part of it.

Poor pawns who believe themselves to be children…

But most, if not all, of the inhabitants of a universe slowly filling with chaos are pawns.

And perhaps it is poor _pawn_ instead. Pawn because they are carbon copies of a one, despite how they appear. Different hair colours. Different styles. Different clothes and decks – but all of those are material things. All of those are easily looked past. And they share a destiny. An ultimate fate.

Yuuto. Yugo. Yuri. Yuuya.

Four names. One…and perhaps he can't even be said to be a boy.

But he is called one nonetheless, where this story starts.

**.**

_The pendulum swings again. Away. Towards. They watch. They wait._

_They hope. They despair._

_They know the story has already begun. They just wait…_

_And then it happens. A ripple. From somewhere. Some place. _

_And the pendulum hits its target with a resounding clang._


	2. Chapter 1 - Yuugo

**A/N: **Sorry the first chapter took so long! I realised Yuugo was going to start appearing again so I waited until I had a better idea about the synchro counterpart of Yuzu and the synchro dimension – and then I got busy with uni-related things (though I edited/added some details after the latest episode). I figured this is far enough, so now let's see how much of my fan-theories are going to get derailed by future episodes (we're at two). It won't change the story either way – unless we see more of Yuuri's backstory in the next few months.

_Contains elements of DM/GX, 5Ds and ZEXAL, and sort-of spoilers for Arc-V up to episode 55 (minor details that could have worked without, but if it's there, why not use it? :D)._

Enjoy! And I won't promise a chapter within a month (because my and writing schedules don't usually work for very long), but I'll try! I think my muse has finally learnt it can't manage all the ideas at once, so that's progress anyhow…

* * *

**How They Met Themselves  
**_Chapter 1 – Yuugo _

**.**

**.**

He is placed in this world and he notices nothing missing, nothing changed.

In fact, he notices nothing much at all at first, except confusion. And black. But that's because his eyes are closed.

He opens them, then gasps. Everything above him glitters. It looks like a paradise.

But when he sits up, he realises it's a paradise built on a dump, and that both saddens and angers him, though he doesn't yet understand.

Later, he does. When some kids out playing find him and drag him to a middle-aged woman with stern eyes but a kindly expression. When she explains what this place he's woken up is. As she wonders, briefly, where his parents are. Wonders if they're dead – but she doesn't say that. That's him thinking, based on the flash of sadness on her face.

She is a kind woman, he thinks, to be sad about people she's never met, and for a boy she's seeing for the first time.

And she only becomes kinder. 'I have lots of kids like you,' she explains. And he has to agree on the "lots of kids" part. They're peeping around the door. Eight or so. There might be more, too. He can't see the one who carried him in – but he's already forgotten the face.

He's sure he'll remember later, when it's time to thank. And he will thank. They've alleviated his confusion, so that's something.

And it's about to be more than something.

Because the lady also offers him a home, with the others who've lost theirs.

And no-one thinks much of the fact that he doesn't remember where his home used to be.

At least he remembers his name. In fact, that's all he remembers. So he clings to it stubbornly.

It's Yuugo.

**.**

He grows up in that house: Martha's place. And that's where he learns about Jack Atlas.

He's never met the man. He'd lived at Martha's place until…about four years before he, Yuugo, came. He wants to, though. And he's sure he will. Jack Atlas is more than a person he wants to meet. Jack Atlas is a goal. A hurdle he wants to surpass.

Jack Atlas is the only person who's lived like them to reach the paradise above the slums.

He wants to reach that paradise too.

And, to do that, he needs to become a duellist as strong as Jack Atlas.

So, a few months into living at Martha's place, he decides that's what he'll do. He'll become a duelling champion. And he'll reach the paradise called the Tops.

And he'll fix this messed up world that thinks its right to have children for scraps like this while the glittering gold above them dangles, a carrot they can't reach.

Because under the Tops are the Slums. Less space, less resources, but far more people. What they have is mostly what the people at the Tops don't need – what that one percent of Neo Domino City don't have space for, or simply don't want.

They're left to pick up all that refuse and make use of it.

But they do make use of it. And they appreciate it. They build their lives and their hopes on those scraps, and their goal is the paradise above, and the one man amongst them who's reached it.

**.**

Almost exactly one year later, Rin comes along. Unlike him, she remembers her family and her home but her words are vague, inexact. She's hit her head at some point and she slips in and out of consciousness and dreams. The kids take turns watching her until one day, when it's Yuugo's turn, she opens her eyes, sees him hovering uncomfortably close, and slaps him.

He falls and yells some new profanity he's picked up from the other kids. He earns another slap, from Martha who'd come to see what all the noise had been about.

'He's being rude,' Rin sniffs, when the matron turns her inquiring gaze towards her.

'I was not!' Yuugo cries.

Martha doesn't believe him. She knows him too well. That straight-forward nature of his that can earn him lots of trouble if the wrong person is listening.

Luckily, so far, the wrong person hasn't.

**.**

Crow Hogan is the best duellist in the slums since after Jack left, but he's hardly around. More of the time, he's either stealing from the Tops or being held in detention. He'll never get to the Friendship Cup. He'll never duel Jack. Criminals aren't allowed to do either of those things.

Crow doesn't like Jack very much, but he never says why. Some of the kids think he's abandoned them and that's why. Others think the world above is just a tough customer and it's going to take more than one guy to make things fair again.

Yuugo thinks it's more likely the latter. Otherwise Jack wouldn't be worshipped for the hero he is. The hero of the slums. One of the most famous duellists of Neo Domino City – that even the Tops have his poster on every billboard. He doesn't believe Jack was the kind of guy to abandon, or betray. Jack's the kind of guy that brings smiles and cheers and passion with his duels.

They're less and less, as he grows older. Not because there are new duellists who can overwhelm him. There aren't. No-one else has come close.

Yuugo decides he will come close.

Surprisingly, Rin agrees.

**.**

They collect cards and trade amongst each other, so they can each have the best deck circumstances can give them. They're all eager to duel but few are eager to get to the point Jack is at. The reason is that there's more than a simple duel to get through to get to him, and that height.

Crow has a duel runner. He's happy enough to teach them how to make one too, but it's tough getting the materials together. Yuugo is one of the few to tackle the challenge. Rin does too. She says she wants to fly – then snaps at Yuugo for wondering why a girl in a dress would want to sit on a duel runner.

Somehow, they wind up working together. After they try to outcompete each other in this thing that isn't really a competition. After they get into yelling matches and childish silence stints and even into a physical scuffle one time. And Yuugo can't even feel ashamed because Rin gives as good as she gets and his bruises hurt for days afterwards. Especially when Martha makes the two of them clean the house from top to bottom as punishment.

Maybe that's the incident that brings them together. They're not really sure because they were quite young then and neither of them have particularly good memories. Though Yuugo thinks his is better than Rin's. He just doesn't pay attention to the subtleties. She blanks out completely at times. Faints, or just stares at nothing for a bit. That's a recipe for disaster on a duel runner, he thinks.

And he's proven right, as when they're practising how to ride the one they've built, she freezes and crashes, and Yuugo is left with a duel disaster on his hands.

They're just lucky the really crucial bits, like the interface Crow stole for them and spent two years in detention for, was mostly unharmed.

Though they have to wait for him to get out to help fix that. And he struggles with it too. Like he doesn't quite know how to fix things like that, but there's some unconscious bit in the back of his brain that does.

They manage it, and it takes them a year to replace the unsalvageable bits and get the duel runner working again.

Rin agrees to ride on the back this time. The experience has scared her – but she still wants to fly.

Yuugo can't help but think it's such a simple dream: wanting to fly.

Then again, his dream is pretty simple too, as Rin is quick to point out.

**.**

It takes them a total of five years before the duel runner is ready and they are both fifteen, but the first fortune cup they enter, they're both knocked out in the first round. Neither of the people that beat them get beyond round three, so it's an overall disappointing experience. It only shows how much further they have to come.

But what neither Yuugo nor Rin notice is that they are watched: during their match, and after as well. And not for the same reasons either.

Jack Atlas is perhaps the most innocent of the observers. He is merely struck with nostalgia as he sees a boy with cards picked up in the slum that go surprisingly well together, competing in a tournament that is way outside his class. He's not sure why. He made it all the way to the finals so it can't be himself he sees. And it's not. It's a different feeling. Like a friend, a rival and an enemy. Like something he's forgotten.

But he knows he hasn't forgotten. The closest thing he'd had to a friend was Crow and they'd disagreed on too many things.

_It's nothing_, he thinks. _That boy's nothing_. And he turns away.

But the man who sits at the head of the Tops continues to watch. A Go game sits forgotten in a corner – or not. The pieces are set. Black has lots of territory. White is mostly trapped. But it is still possible for white to win, if one would take that side. But everyone is focused on the tournament, or its players. And it is a world of duelling. Few care for other games. And so the Go board holds meaning to only one amongst them and he is, at that moment, elsewhere occupied.

A few weeks later though, one going into that room will notice the pieces have moved. Black has seized a little more territory. White has less of a presence on the board – at least one of its pieces have been taken out.

And Yuugo, collecting things with the other orphans, stumbles across a card so powerful he knows he can't give it up to anyone. Even though it's selfish. Even though they always share. Decide what's best for everyone.

But he's the only one of them that has a duel runner and the conviction for the Friendship Cup. No-one else will make as good use of it, he thinks.

He adds it to his deck.

And the pendulum begins its return journey.


	3. Chapter 2 - Yuuri

**A/N: **There are a few holes in canon I have to plug at this point in the story. One is Yuuri's backstory. Another is the decks of Rin and Ruri (see if you can work it out from the hints in this chapter). So when they come out afterwards, chances are they'll be different. People reading this after that fact, keep in mind this chapter was written while Arc-V was up to episode 67 and that information wasn't available then. The third hole is where in the world the previous canons fit in, particularly the Fusion one where we have the least hints (of GX). And the fourth is the official name for Yuuri's dragon and the deck that surrounds it. The only card in that deck we do know is Violet Flash and that's a generalised fusion support card. So lots of stuff that'll potentially be derailed by canon, but that's what happens with ongoing fandoms…

Ed: this chapter was actually written a while ago and I thought I'd posted but, but apparently not. Since then, Ruri has physically appeared – but not her deck, so I don't think that really changes anything.

Enjoy!

* * *

**How They Met Themselves  
**_Chapter 2 – Yuuri _

**.**

**.**

This is a world that has undergone a rapid change in recent times, and therefore his insertion into it is missed. He is simply one of the orphans who followed the military takeover, one of the orphans taken in by the Academia and trained.

Until he is revealed to not be on quite the same level as the other orphans.

And it's not the fact that he has no memories of his life before the Academia. It's how easily he absorbs the teachings, the conditioning. When the other children fight, he accepts. When they are learning to accept, he is developing what he's accepted long ago, finding further branches…

The Principal is proud of him. 'You will be someone who can carry on my ideals when I am gone.'

He is a sponge that soaks up all of those ideals and doesn't yet need to be wrung out.

**.**

He learns how to duel. He is ready more quickly than the other children because he doesn't need to be deconditioned first, so he learns straight from the Military personnel. And they are harsh teachers. He doesn't have an emotion to attribute to it at the beginning, but soon he grows to enjoy it. And he enjoys his life as it is: his perfectly ordinary life. Not like the other children who whine and cry until their dissatisfaction is beaten out of them.

He has no dissatisfaction to beat out of him, and that means he is more valuable. He can learn faster.

So he learns how to duel. Initially, they are wary. They don't let him have a deck. They don't even let him have real cards. Instead, they are paper and he is training his body and his mind. They use real monsters against him, though. They don't pull their punches just because he's a kid. They pull his punches only when he makes the right call.

And he does. Frequently. And when that number climbs up so that the people at the top are beyond satisfied, he gets to use cards. Weak, common cards first, but he proves himself with them without proving to be a threat, and he eventually is rewarded with better ones. He's able to put together his own deck with the cream of the coup. He gets some rare cards as well. Nothing that will let him overwhelm the military of course. They are ever cautious and he is the sample they prime to ensure the quality of the rest.

**.**

He's a strong child but even he has his eccentrics and he holds on to them. There's a garden where he dreams and that garden has beautiful music and beautiful birds and a beautiful moon and beautiful flowers growing. He's a typical boy in some aspects, so he thinks it's weird this beautiful place attracts him. It's almost girly.

But it attracts him nonetheless, and the flowers are what attract him most of all.

Maybe it's because his name is Yuuri. It's a girlish name but there's no-one to tease. They're all too busy being deconditioned, being trained – or doing the training.

None of them know what they're being trained for, but it's to do with the ideals being engraved in to them. And Yuuri wholeheartedly believes in them.

Still, there's something peaceful about the garden that makes him want to believe in that too.

**.**

The last thing he learns about duelling is the art the Academia is famous and feared for – but he's not aware of that little tidbit at the time. He only sees fusion summoning as a way to bring out more power. But it's not just that. Or it is, but it's a different sort of power. Not the sort his brain can put together, but something his heart has to pull out.

And this is where he struggles. Where he disappoints his teachers because he's been so good at the other aspects of duelling they're sure he has the potential for a really powerful fusion summon. And maybe he does have that potential. But he struggles to tap in to it. He does the motions, calls the words, plays the right cards but the energy produced from his fusion summoning isn't enough to please them.

And, for the first time, Yuuri learns what it means to displease his teachers and the Principal.

**.**

They try the standard method first. That is, to shock him repeatedly when he fails to achieve an adequate level. It's not torture: the level is barely higher than where he is now. It's achievable. But he struggles to achieve it. And he's shocked. And he bears with the pain and tries to reach that pedestal set for him – set shamefully low, according to the Military who trained him – but he still struggles.

At one point, he breaks and screams himself senseless. He is only injected with a tranquiliser and given a day's grace before the training starts up again.

Needless to say, he breaks many times thereafter.

**.**

Eventually, he reaches the levels that satisfy the Principal. He overshoots them, actually. He breaks one of their machines. But they are inordinately pleased and he'd told the shocks will stop now so he's relieved. More than that, he's happy. The Principal is pleased with him again. And so are his teachers. That long time, blurred with pain, is all worth it for that.

Still, it takes some weeks before he is able to do more than just stumble and play the same cards over and over again. And when he looks at those cards afterwards, he realises they're not the same cards he'd started with. They've changed them. Maybe multiple times in case there was a more powerful combination somewhere. These two cards, he's sure, don't have a fusion at all.

He's wrong. They do have one. He finds the card in his extra deck, though he doesn't remember seeing it before. It must be a reward for a job well done, or something similar. It's a strong card, whatever it is. Grey Renaissance Fusion Dragon. A fitting name as well, except the grey. The dragon is purple in colour. Purple lined with black. But grey is also the colour of ash, and Grey Renaissance Fusion Dragon proves to have a strong flame.

Once he's recovered, the Principal gives him a coat like the special ones in the Military wear, and says it is fitting for him.

Yuuri beams.

**.**

There are new people once he's started walking around, started training others. The Principal gives him leave to pick out ones he thinks are special. He hasn't found many of those, sadly. Most are painfully ordinary. There are a few interesting ones. And a few others who just thing they're interesting.

Dennis Macfield is one of the former. Sora Shiun'in is one of the latter.

He trains them both regardless, because he isn't exactly spoilt for choice. Maybe he's too soft with them. Dennis grins too much. Sora mouths off too much. Then it's time to teach them fusion, and Sora turns out to have a similar problem to him.

Luckily, he knows exactly what to do.

And Sora's screams easily spur him on.

He wonders if it's the same with the teachers, with the Principal. He wonders if screams spur them on as well. Make them want to smile as they watched the screamer struggle towards a worthy cause.

Still, it's a relief when Sora finally crosses the minimum threshold set by the Academia. It's not the threshold he'd been given himself, not by afar. And months of work don't get him any higher.

On the other hand, Dennis has little problem reaching the threshold. Though he only _just_ reaches it. And he watches with changing expressions as Sora struggles to his.

Maybe he wonders why nobody interferes. Maybe he understands.

Whatever. It didn't really bother him.

**.**

The Academia is a large place, but in truth it's only a small part of the world they live in. And _that's_ only a small part of the universe. Yuuri is one of the Principal's favourites. So he's taken into confidence and told a few secrets the main Military knows nothing about.

Like the fact that there are four dimensions out there, and other summoning methods not found in this world. Yuuri is taught one of them. The Principal offers his pupils the chance for the other.

They fight for it. Yuuri is not surprised when Dennis wins. He could have called that without the trouble of making them fight. But Sora is angry. Sora is…a mistake, but a necessary one. The Principal thinks he's enough to be elite still and Yuuri doesn't complain. Sora is taken away to do something else. Training others, he hears. It's almost a relief. Yuuri can't say he's liked teaching very much. It grates on his nerves.

He likes the next task much better. Learning always makes him feel useful. Teaching on the other hand makes him feel expendable. And the task after that he likes even more. He gets a loose reign in a new dimension, as long as he kidnaps some girl when the Academia is ready for her.

He's not sure he understands the reason for the delay, but he gets the free reign. It's an opportunity to learn more about the world than simpleton adventurers. It's a way to establish contacts: to find allies, and enemies, and a weak point to exploit. It's a chance to set the world up to fail, because that's the objective of the Academia, to rule all.

**.**

He masters the new summoning method, this time with less pain than before. It also less power, but that's fine. He wants to blend in after all, not stand out. And a strong signal will make him stand out.

Before he can leave, he's interrupted. There's a man, and suddenly every able unit is dispatched to take care of him. Yuuri goes as well, his Grey Renaissance following behind like a beacon to call out his prey. And the man takes the bait and comes. He stares at the monstrosity with a sad expression.

It angers Yuuri. Why does the man wear such an expression on his face? The dragon longs to be of use but that's not a thing to be strong about. It's proud. Yuuri knows it because he's proud as well. He's found the man that Academia wants dealt with. And he'll deal with him as well.

Except it turns out to not be so easy. He doesn't know who this man is but he has a powerful dragon as well. A dragon that's already evolved. A dragon that knows what it wants and what is just a monster effect trying to ensnare it. Yuuri doesn't know where this man has come from or why now. He doesn't know where the man disappears to either, but one moment their dragons are fighting and the next moment they're both gone.

What he doesn't realise is that man is a moth drawn to his flame, mistaken for a similar but different flame. And that realisation has caused a certain pendulum to change direction.

Yuuri doesn't know much about the Fusion Dimension outside the Academia, but the resistance eases off nonetheless. Not enough to make a difference, but enough to be noticeable. And the Principal is content to let them bide their time as his army grows.


End file.
